Honduras

All about the Honduras-EU Voluntary Partnership Agreement

Forests cover about 5.4 million hectares of Honduras — just under half of the total land area. This includes tropical rainforests (52% of the total), coniferous forests (31%) and other types such as mangroves, dry tropical forests and mixed forests (pastoral, agroforestry). These forests are rich in biodiversity and are important carbon stores.

About 85% of the forests are of middle and older age, and they are not being replenished quickly enough to compensate the rate of their destruction — since 2015, Honduras has lost about 12.5% of its forest area.

Most of this decline (88%) is due to an infestation of insect pests that is linked to climate change, and was brought largely under control in 2016. Other causes of forest loss are fires (8%), which are also linked to climate change, and deforestation and illegal logging (4%).

The basic types of forest land tenure include: private (35%), state (27%), community (10%), municipal (4%) and indigenous (3%). The remaining 21% of forest lands have not been assessed to determine land tenure.

Human activities take place in almost 80% of the forest area with the intrusion of, among others, illegal loggers, drugs traffickers and immigrants such as impoverished families seeking to alleviate their poverty by entering into agroforestry and pastoral activities.

The country’s forests are therefore being threatened by unsustainable activities, and the Central American biological corridor, which includes these forests and plays a pivotal role in maintaining the region’s biological richness, is at risk.

The forest sector accounted for an average 3.6% of the Honduran gross national product over the past 16 years. Since 2010, import values of timber products have risen by only 6% (from 51 to 54 million USD), while exports have risen by 62% (from 50 to 81 million USD).

Exports to Europe rose from USD 1.7 million in 2010 to USD 4 million in 2016, which constitute only 4.9% of the exports. The United States is the main market, with exports rising by 35% since 2010, from USD 23 million to USD 31 million. However, to neighbouring countries of El Salvador and Nicaragua have also risen, to USD 23 million (28% of all exports), making these countries the second biggest market for Honduran timber products.

Honduras was the first country in the Americas to enter into VPA negotiations with the EU. In June 2018, Honduras and the EU marked the end of VPA negotiations by initialling the document, ahead of signing and ratifying it.

About the EU FLEGT Facility

The EU FLEGT Facility supports the implementation of the EU FLEGT Action Plan with a focus on Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs). The EU FLEGT Action Plan sets out a programme of actions that forms the EU’s response to the problem of illegal logging and the trade in associated timber products. The Facility is hosted by the European Forest Institute (EFI), and was established in 2007.

This website has been produced with the assistance of the European Union and the Governments of Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The contents of this site are the sole responsibility of the European Forest Institute's EU FLEGT Facility and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of funding organisations.